348 URTIGACE^. 



ANTIARIS TOXICARIA, Lesc^^ 



Fig.—Bot Mag. i.j t. 17 ; Wight Ic.y U 1958; Bedd. Fl 

 Sylv,, t. 307. The 'Upas tree {Eng,), Antiar vcneneux {Fi\). 



Hab. — The Deccan Peniusula, Ceylon, The nuts- 



r , 



Vernacular. — Chandul, Chandakuda, Sapsundl {Mar)^ 

 Nettavil-maram {Tarn.), Jajhugri {Can.)^ Araya-angeli [Mai). 



History, Uses, &C. — '*Most exaggerated statements 



the close of the last century. 



urgeon 



ee 



distance 



were 



of 10 or 12 miles. Criminals condemned to die 

 the chance of life if they would go to the Upas tree and collect 

 some of the poison. They were furnished with proj^er directions, 

 and armed with due precaution^ but not more than two out of 

 every twenty ever returned. The Dutch Surgeon Foersch states 

 that he had derived his information from some of those who 

 liad been lucky enough to escape, albeit the ground around was 

 strewn with the bones of their predecessors ; and such was the 



virulence 



the waters, 



be 



and when any birds fly so near this tree that the effluvia reaches 

 them, they fall a sacrifice to the effects of the poison. Out of 

 a population of 1,600 persons, who were compelled, on account 

 of civil dissensions, to reside within 12 or 14 miles of the tree, 

 not more than 300 remained in less than two months, Foersch 

 states that he conversed with some of the survivors, and pro- 

 ceeds to give an account of some experiments that he witnessed 

 with the gum of this tree, these experiments consisting prm- 

 cipally in the execution of several women, by direction of the Em- 

 peror ! Now, as specimens of this tree are cultivated in botanic 

 gardens, it cannot have such virulent properties as it was stated 

 to have ; moreover, it is now known to grow in woods with other 

 trees, and birds and lizards have been observed on its branches. 



^ixally 



rendered 



uuwholeeom 



»h^ 



